Definition: Software boundary

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I see this term tossed around, but I can't seem to find an adequate definition. Commonly, it's expressed as "hardware/software boundary" but I've seen it as a stand-alone term, too. I've Googled it to no avail. Can anyone lend a hand? Thanks.

 

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Well - I understand this to mean the point where 'software' (cue aguement as to whether firmware is the same as software, and what constitutes firmware) meets the actual hardware.

In the old days it was fairly easy. The instruction "OUT 10,AL" sent the contents of the accumulator on the processor to port 10, which would be some type of hardware register.

But now, with highly clever hardware, the boundaries aren't so clear. You can get a whole TCP//IP stack in 'hardware'. Where is the boundary - bearing in mind that some argue that such a piece of hardware is actualy a mini-computer running it's own firmware.

Harry.

 

How would this affect performance and scalability when designing a server farm or determining if you needed to deploy more than one server farm?

 

Actually, I think I've got it sorted. Actually a software boundary can be between, either hardware or the network and has to do with the performance and scalability required in a server farm design. To quote from myself:

Does that seem accurate?

 

It isn't how I would understand it. But, at best, it is a fuzzy term now. And I'm an old unreconstructed hardware/firmware guy!

On your quote you are introducing a 'software/network' boundary as well. And I don't see how a boundary can change based purely on performance! It seems to me as if you are using the term as an alternative form of "software/hardware tradeoff", which in my book , isn't the same thing at all.

This may, of course, be a UK/US problem.

Harry.

 

And it may be a "I've-got-my-facts-wrong" thing. I did find some info mentioning a software/network boundary, but most of the information I found via Google was located in high level articles such as this one:

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=1347762

I'm looking for a bit more of a straight forward answer. I don't want to have to go back to uni and take another degree just to write one or two paragraphs describing this process.